Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria; Department of Public Health, and Institute of Lassa Fever Research and Control, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria.

Division of Infection and Immunity, Center for Clinical Microbiology, University College London, The National Institute of Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at UCL Hospitals, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.

Abstract

Recently, concern has been raised about the emergence of human monkeypox virus and the occasionally severe clinical presentation bearing resemblance to that of smallpox. In 2018 3 patients in the UK were diagnosed with monkeypox, and the frequency and geographic distribution of cases across West and Central Africa have increased in recent years. In Nigeria, most monkeypox patients are aged <40 years and lack cross-protective immunity because they were born after discontinuation of the smallpox eradication campaign. This article reviews the epidemiology, clinical features, and management of monkeypox and discusses its growing public health threat in this context.